Now that I read this, I notice that I automatically do this when i’m in school, and that it’s much more automatic and frequent in subjects I find easy (I wonder whether it’s the tracking that makes it easy, or whether less effort frees up brain space to track?).
In history class, I always keep a mental map of when something happened, why it happened, and what resulted from it. I was very surprised when I found out none of my friends do anything similar, because it’s such an obvious tool for seeing the bigger picture and remembering how things fit together for me.
I also tend to track “what do think was the creator’s though process was here?” a lot, both casually and critically. Highly recommend, it helps you see the work and thought that went into it much better, which I personally enjoy a lot (though it also significantly raised my standards for practically all kinds of media as well, so it might not be for everyone).
Tracking seems crucial to deeper understanding of abstract things, and put like this, I believe most people who are very good at something specific probably track something automatically all the time. Either way, it seems promising to test your hypothesis. I will definitely be asking some people the “what are you tracking in your head?”, maybe something useful will come of it.
Now that I read this, I notice that I automatically do this when i’m in school, and that it’s much more automatic and frequent in subjects I find easy (I wonder whether it’s the tracking that makes it easy, or whether less effort frees up brain space to track?).
In history class, I always keep a mental map of when something happened, why it happened, and what resulted from it. I was very surprised when I found out none of my friends do anything similar, because it’s such an obvious tool for seeing the bigger picture and remembering how things fit together for me.
I also tend to track “what do think was the creator’s though process was here?” a lot, both casually and critically. Highly recommend, it helps you see the work and thought that went into it much better, which I personally enjoy a lot (though it also significantly raised my standards for practically all kinds of media as well, so it might not be for everyone).
Tracking seems crucial to deeper understanding of abstract things, and put like this, I believe most people who are very good at something specific probably track something automatically all the time. Either way, it seems promising to test your hypothesis. I will definitely be asking some people the “what are you tracking in your head?”, maybe something useful will come of it.